Baton Rouge -- A lawsuit alleging that a 2010 law allowing the state health secretary to shut down abortion clinics for any violation without providing an opportunity to correct the issue was dismissed by a federal appellate court Friday. Two of three judges on a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed with a district court's ruling that the five outpatient abortion clinics and the anonymous doctor who brought the suit failed to show that they had been harmed by the law.

View full sizeTed Jackson, The Times-PicayuneThe Gentilly Medical Clinic for Women Family Planning at 3030 Gentilly Blvd. was shut down in May 2011.

U.S. Judge Priscilla Owen, writing for the majority, argued that because the law puts no new requirements on the clinics there is no harm that would justify striking down the law.

"(W)e note that Choice has not identified a single concrete example of how it has been forced to modify its behavior as a result" of the law, Owen wrote, referring to lead plaintiff in the suit, Choice Incorporated of Texas.

The clinics that challenged the law argued it allows the Department of Health and Hospitals to shut down outpatient abortion providers without offering them protections given to other types of providers and allows for discriminatory enforcement. Under the law, clinics are no longer allowed to continue operating while appealing the suspension of their license.

The suit was filed by clinics in New Orleans, Metairie, Baton Rouge and Bossier City and by a doctor who was listed only as John Doe.

U.S. Judge James Dennis dissented from the majority opinion, arguing the majority had overlooked "clear legal harms" and been too rigid in its interpretation of the hardships the law imposed on abortion providers.

The 2010 law was used last year to shut down a Gentilly abortion clinic after the Department of Health and Hospitals determined "the facility failed to provide nursing services to meet the needs of its patients and adequately monitor women in recovery following a procedure."

Health officials had previously cracked down on the clinic, which was accused of operating without a registered nurse or a license for controlled dangerous substances. However, it had been able to reopen under the previous law dealing with violations while that case was making its way through the courts.

U.S. District Judge James Brady, who tossed out the initial suit last February, had ruled that the Gentilly case was " 'too isolated' to assist in the evaluation" of the claims made in the lawsuit.